Incremental Innovation is Just As Powerful as Disruption

[We are living in an era of] cautiousness far too satisfied with incremental improvements. Our ability to do basic things such as protect ourselves from earthquakes and hurricanes, to travel and to extend our lifespans is barely increasing [since the 1960s]. The genuine progress in IT from the 1970s up to the 2000s masked the relative stagnation of energy, transportation, space, materials, agriculture and medicine.

Blue ocean opportunities like asteroid mining and commercial space travel will attract a certain type of personality. And efficiency innovations will attract another. There is room and a need for both. Though they pursue innovation in different ways, directly and indirectly, these entrepreneurs do change the world similarly.

Banging on the wrong pots and pans

While it may be true that an increasing number of people are focused on efficiency innovation as the field of entrepreneurship grows, the claim that we’re not pursuing significant problems is inaccurate.

Below is a list of advances made in various fields from a few Google queries. Significant innovation is occurring in fields like healthcare, transportation and agriculture.

Right cause, questionable war-cry

There’s no doubt, we could always be aiming higher, funding research and new ideas to a greater extent, relaxing H1B visa restrictions or reducing barriers to entry for new companies.

To his great credit, Thiel is a contributor to this effort. He has many initiatives to finance progress: the Thiel fellows programs, his numerous investment vehicles and working with his colleagues from PayPal who have built SpaceX, Telsa, Yammer, LinkedIn and other disruptive companies.

But to question the progress and changes we’ve seen in the past 50 years and the innovations that we’re on the cusp of commercializing is a misleading way to build a groundswell. Even if the cause is laudable.